I don't read blogs. Frankly they make me gag. But I got hit really hard by a moped this evening and feel really weird, physically. Maybe I got a concussion, I can't focus well and am still shaken.
I live in Brooklyn and teach an evening class and was headed home. I wasn't in any particular mood really. I got on then off the train, made a snapchat of my feet walking. The sound my shoes make is always interesting and rhythmic. It's stupid but in someways artistic. I walked into my local super market, Compare Foods, remembering I wanted spring water and bananas. I go in for random, non produce items every other day. I make another snapchat video out of boredom because they have a very narrow section of the small market where they keep bottled water, soda/sugary drinks, soaps/detergents etc.. This is in an almost makeshift outdoor area. I leave the market very conscious and aware of my surroundings because it's late and i'm a young woman. Turn the corner, walk, look around, walk, walk and get to the one way intersection. One way as in a small oneway traffic direction where cars, bikes and all motor vehicles go in one direction. So I am to look at the direction where traffic is legally and normally comes from before crossing onto my street. No cars or bikes so I cross.
BAM! This moron on a motorbike, delivering food is driving his motor bike against traffic on a oneway street, at a red light and crashes into me, hard. And he pressed the brake, freaked out and got off forgetting to turn off the motor and almost dragged me.
I felt wetness, the gallon of water I bought was pierced and was leaking through the plastic. My head felt a whiplash and an out of sort feeling as I got up and tried to gather myself. I felt a shift in my head, almost like a shift in my brain, a flash of nothingness, blankness, an unknowing of what just occurred. No sounds for a moment then the drivers face appeared in front of me. It felt like the first time I've ever seen a human being. I couldn't make him out for a second in that time. A very strange feeling. It was like a scene from a film. The moment where the character see's blur, silence, movement in slow motion, noise slowly creeps in, a moment of senselessness and a random stranger in a state of panic asking "are you okay?" I look down at the gallon of water leaking in two places, the motorbike on the floor, my crushed bananas, the nail on my thumb broke off where the skin meets, a little bit of blood on my pinky and my whole body shaking. He slammed into me so hard all I could do was shake. When I finally looked at him, he was freaking out not knowing what to do. All I could say was "Why are you driving against traffic!?" He offered to walk me home as I was on my block, I shook my head and blindly walked away shaking, in shock as to what just happened.
I got home and showered, discovered a couple of bruises and welts by my knee. I was shaken through the night and kept thinking, had it been a small kid or even an elderly person, the injuries could've been fatal. I didn't even get the guys info or where he worked. He was driving a motor vehicle against traffic at night time. But then I thought, he's a delivery guy that can't be a way to make a living but then again he shouldn't have been driving down that street and I could've gotten a concussion if my head hit the ground hard enough. I should've gone to the hospital. I don't even know if I got a mild concussion. I don't know what the moral of this story is, I don't think there is a moral. But people who drive their fncking mopeds and motor scooter bikes need to fncking get their shit together and remember there are people walking and their motor bikes are as much a motor vehicle as a car or truck or motorcycle and they need to follow the same traffic laws. Going through a oneway shortcut to get to where you need faster is as illegal as a car going through a one way street. Why are people so fncking stupid.
